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The federal government says it was quick to respond to this crisis but they fail to mention they their only action was to blame BP. Hell this leak can last forever as far as this administration is concerned. They've found their "fix" early.

Well Mr. Durbin B.O. stands for Big Oil and I bet your hands are just as dirty.
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If the Federal Government would have said "Louisiana, do whatever it takes to protect your wetlands and we'll make sure the bill gets covered" that would have even been SOMETHING -- instead, some of the permits have not even been approved and they could have been working to protect themselves. They didn't want the Feds to come in and do it--they just wanted permission and couldn't even get that from Obama's Red Tape Society in Washington......
quote:
Originally posted by Eastside:
If the Federal Government would have said "Louisiana, do whatever it takes to protect your wetlands and we'll make sure the bill gets covered" that would have even been SOMETHING -- instead, some of the permits have not even been approved and they could have been working to protect themselves. They didn't want the Feds to come in and do it--they just wanted permission and couldn't even get that from Obama's Red Tape Society in Washington......


Louisiana needs permits to authorize building of berms along beaches and shorelines, using sand dredged form offshore. The Corps of Engineers administers the permit system and time is a wastin'! The Corps says it is completing a review of environmental impacts of the sand dredging before it issues the permits.

Dredging permits are not issued from Washington, but from District Offices of the Corps of Engineers. Is there anyone in his/her right mind in the New Orleans District Office of the Corps of Engineers who can not see the obvious (!), namely that some dredging of sand offshore could not possibly have an impact as severe as allowing massive quantities of oil to penetrate all the way to high tide in the flat, flat areas of the Gulf coast?

As to Obama's role,he is, after all, the Commander-in-Chief and the Corps of Engineers is part of the Armed Forces, so he should kick the Corps' officious butts and tell them to issue the permits or just get out of the way.

Any environmental assessment of the matter should have been completed in about 30 minutes and the state of Louisiana and any other state needing those permits should have had them about a week ago! Come on, Colonel whoever is in charge--get the #$$*@#@$% permits issued!

I have spent many hours in the incredibly productive Louisiana coastal wetlands and this mess just ties knots in my stomach!
Last edited by beternU
quote:
Originally posted by ferrellj:
Better, do us a favor. Rewrite your post as you would have if Bush was still in office. It would be interesting to see the difference.


No problemmo;here ya go!

Louisiana needs permits to authorize building of berms along beaches and shorelines, using sand dredged form offshore. The Corps of Engineers administers the permit system and time is a wastin'! The Corps says it is completing a review of environmental impacts of the sand dredging before it issues the permits.

Dredging permits are not issued from Washington, but from District Offices of the Corps of Engineers. Is there anyone in his/her right mind in the New Orleans District Office of the Corps of Engineers who can not see the obvious (!), namely that some dredging of sand offshore could not possibly have an impact as severe as allowing massive quantities of oil to penetrate all the way to high tide in the flat, flat areas of the Gulf coast?

As to ObamaBush's role,he is, after all, the Commander-in-Chief and the Corps of Engineers is part of the Armed Forces, so he should kick the Corps' officious butts and tell them to issue the permits or just get out of the way.

Any environmental assessment of the matter should have been completed in about 30 minutes and the state of Louisiana and any other state needing those permits should have had them about a week ago! Come on, Colonel whoever is in charge--get the #$$*@#@$% permits issued!

I have spent many hours in the incredibly productive Louisiana coastal wetlands and this mess just ties knots in my stomach!
No one on here is going to believe that. I'm not blaming Obama any more than Bush should have been blamed for Katrina. It's politics as usual. You have people in place that have no idea what they are doing, but they were great party supporters. BP and the feds were irresponsible for not having a worst case scenario plan.
quote:
Originally posted by ferrellj:
No one on here is going to believe that. I'm not blaming Obama any more than Bush should have been blamed for Katrina. It's politics as usual. You have people in place that have no idea what they are doing, but they were great party supporters. BP and the feds were irresponsible for not having a worst case scenario plan.


Believe whatever suits you.

The oil and gas industry has always claimed to have the resources to clean up any spills that might be occasioned by their activities but, as in the case of the Exxon Valdez, those resources have not always been there (although in many cases, to be fair, they have). In the Valdez matter, BP was supposed to always have a barge ready to receive oil pumped up from spills. The barge was frozen in and inaccessible during the Valdez incident. The Valdez was supposed to always be using a specific, high-tech type radar when navigating within inshore waters. It was turned off when the Valdez ran aground. It had not been used for weeks, since it was deemed too expensive to use.

The oft-quoted Reaganesque notion that "Government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem" is not a very neat fit for either the Exxon Valdez case or for the current disaster. When industry gains permission to drill, and when that permission includes responsibilities to comply with stated conditions for prevention and clean-up of spills, and when those measures are neglected, then the industry has failed. And yes, it is the responsibility of government to enforce those conditions, and government bears part of the blame when it fails to do so. But the folly of the cited Reagan philosopy is seen in that it does not take sufficient account of the heavy responsibility that industry bears when managing and accessing puyblic resources within the public domain, as in the case of offshore drilling, mining on public lands, etc.

The Minerals Management Service, which "regulates" offshore oil and gas activities, has a history of egregious corruption (e.g. literally getting into bed with industry) that might not yet have been fully remedied. Maybe this latest mess will trigger much-needed reforms. The recently proposed reorganization is a step in the right direction.

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